January 18, 2010
Saturday was market day. Bridget Meyers shops for the school children, the work team of 6 that is here until the 28th, her family of 4 and Paul Frazier and me. Because their funding is strictly budgeted they must be certain of the costs of everything and what line item it will be drawn from.
Our cook, Bassey, (pronounced Bossy) goes with her to shop. Otherwise she would not be able to get the best price. We are the only white faces seen in the town. Pat, from the work team, and I went with her. Only the pictures will tell you what that experience was like. The odors of market ranged from wonderful spice smells - to the opposite. Christmas dinner - we were told- was cow's head. (you know like turkey and ham??) We were hoping to see one in the market but were too late. They had already been sold.
At one point Pat and I struck out on our own to look at fabric. The colors are brilliant and beautiful. We tried to strike a bargain with two of the shop keepers, but were not successful. They wanted 2,000 Naira for 6 yards of fabric, and we had been told to only pay 1,000. Later we took another young man that had come with us, but the shopkeeper wouldn't come down lower than 1,700. So we went into a shop that we had not tried to bargain in and he was able to get us a price of 1,400 for the six yards. That would be just under $10 for 6 yds. of 45" wide fabric.
We purchased live cat fish for fish and chips this week. Later that day Pat went to get water from the freezer and one of the packages moved. To quote her, "I nearly jumped out of my skin". We had seen them kill the fish earlier and assumed that they had done that to ours - not!

The market took 5 hours. We were very hot and sweaty, but Bridget wasn't done yet. Her husband Devin took us and a truck load of groceries home and returned for her. He made three tips to town this day. (Last week it was four) So we're getting better.
Sunday everyone was dressed to the nines. They are always dressed in beautiful colors, even the men, but Sunday is special. All of the children sit together in the front on the right side of the church (clinic), and there is a man and woman whose main job is to make sure that they behave. Helena had a stick in her hand and if a child misbehaved, she tapped them with the stick.
Today - Monday-I will spend time in each of the classrooms that I haven't visited yet. On Friday I was able to visit 5 rooms. There are a total of 13. I've been asked by the head teacher to evaluate each class and then meet with the teachers and give them suggestions that will help them move forward in their instruction. At 4 pm I will meet with the adults that want to improve their reading and writing.
Okay that's it for now. I'll load this on Paul's juno outboc and when he can connect he'll send it to Pat Fowler, who will type it into the blog. Thanks Pat. I owe ya'.
THIS WAS PUT IN LATE, ON FEB 20TH. SORRY FOR THE MIX UP CAROL'S FAULT.